Talk:Condemned of Space/@comment-25628265-20150907040319
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51wB5zJhq68 Season Three, Number One Episode Sixty Wednesday, September 6, 1967 CONDEMNED OF SPACE Guest Star MARCEL HILLAIRE Written by PETER PACKER Directed by NATHAN JURAN Okay, I hardly view episodes anymore, but in honor of the very first episode kicking off a brand new anniversary season, I had time on my hands at work and I watched this one, on the exact date of the forty-eighth anniversary of this episode's original airing on CBS Television. Right off the bat, I will say that this installment is my number six-ranked episode of the final season. This one has always been quite a solid, exciting and entertaining story for me, and just like with all three seasons, this season premiered in extremely solid fashion. This episode is played quite a bit straighter than the great, great majority of the episodes this season, especially later on. However, I did notice a few obligatory cutesy, tongue-in-cheek moments in there. As I say with all these later series' episodes that tried to play themselves more seriously, it would have been better off without these light moments/lines, because the mixture of trying to be more serious, coupled with the lighter humorous moments is precisely what I do not care for much. Of course, nothing could ever possibly equal the outstanding classic seriousness we had at the beginning of the series, especially by now. Basically, it is, most especially concerning Dr. Smith's characterization, what it is, at this later point in the series. I seem to always notice that Dick Tufeld's voice tracks for the robot seem to sound a bit different (nasal?) in this episode. To me, it sounds like Dick Tufeld had a cold or something. An additional slight turnoff is that the robot's character was played slightly too goofy with some of his lines..not to mention some of Dr. Smith's lines. As for the background incidental music, which is always a very big love for me with this show, we had a lot of the classic early series music from Johnny Williams, from episodes such as "The Reluctant Stowaway," "Island In The Sky," "The Hungry Sea," and "My Friend, Mr. Nobody." The story kicks off with some wonderful music from "The Derelict," and ironically, just as the robot warns of the danger from the approaching comet, the music immediately switches to very rare music from Season Two's "West Of Mars." Later on during this fine and solid story, we hear other incidental background music bits from additional Season Two episodes such as "Blast Off Into Space," and to a lesser degree, "The Thief From Outer Space" and "The Questing Beast." Perhaps there are other episode's music borrowed as well, but those are the ones I caught. We all know that this was the first of two appearances for guest star Marcel Hillaire, who played the Mr. Phanzig character. It would be interesting to know the names of all those additional extra stand-in frozen criminals, especially all the prisoners who were defrosted and in the rowdy and noisy crowd near the end. Also a treat was bringing back MGM's 'Robby The Robot' as the prison ship's automated guard. What is also obvious on this third and final season kickoff episode is how much of a new look and changeover we had. First of all, we immediately notice the castaways sporting new uniforms for the first time since mid B&W Season One. These would be the third, and last, set of uniforms the cast would assume during the series. They are not bad, but they are a colorful mixed bag. Some work better than others. Speaking of uniforms, it was cool to see the cast in those old silver flight suits again. Before the teaser was even up, we were suddenly whisked away from the planet the spaceship had been marooned on since the earliest portion of the fourth episode from the second season, entitled "Forbidden World." If I am counting correctly, that was twenty-seven episodes ago. Another obvious change is a completely made over title sequence, with an entirely different music score from the great Johnny Williams. We were so used to the usual Johnny Williams theme music from the first two seasons, that this one, complete with live shots of the cast members, was like suddenly getting blown over by a freight train. The brand new title music score is very upbeat and different. What is especially intriguing is the sudden freeze frame, instantly leading into the 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sequence. I got much more tired of it as the season rolled along, but at first, it simply blows you away. My 'theme colors' for this episode are (primary) light blue, and (secondary) gray/silver. The reason for the light blue selection for this episode is firstly because the 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 font was in a light blue color, and secondly because several interior areas of the prison ship Vera Castle were in a light blue (as well as yellow) color scheme. The secondary gray/silver color was firstly because all the prisoners were in those gray-colored outfits, and secondly because the cast was largely seen (except for the very beginning) in their old impressive silver flight suits. Finally, the episode's finale and closing, which is always a very, very big factor with me in how I rate an episode overall, is maybe a bit too cutesy here, but it wraps up the adventure well, without being too over the top silly like many. The closing music here is the classic 'clippity-clop-weeeeeee' music from guest composer Robert Drasnin that we first heard at the conclusion of Season Two's "Forbidden World." Really, all the background incidental music scores we heard in this episodes were reused stock music from previous stories. None of the music here was original..